Training for work - New agency bears huge responsibility

IN a country with just under 450,000 people out of work, very many on a long-term basis, it is hard to overstate the importance of effective training, retraining and education services to facilitate any return to work.

It is essential too to constantly hone skills because without relevant, up-to-date capabilities right across the workforce, this economy will not be as competitive as it must be if we are to recover economic independence.

As the international competition to secure foreign investment intensifies all the time, it is essential to have workers with the skill sets needed to inspire confidence in the decision makers who choose where investments, and the vital jobs they bring, go.

Yesterday’s announcement by Minister for Education Ruairí Quinn that the discredited training agency Fás has been disbanded is a welcome step in this vital process. Fás had come to epitomise all that was wrong with public organisations. It was bloated, self-indulgent and unaccountable. Its effectiveness was, at the very least, questionable. It had a spectacular budget at a time of near full employment and this brought temptations that were not always resisted. There’s no point in pretending — the organisation was seen as sleazy and ineffective.

Earlier this year the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) study of how State agencies encourage and assist unemployed people to get work found they have had limited success and can be counterproductive. Fás was a central character in this expensive charade.

Yesterday’s announcement hopefully closed the book on Fás, as it has been be replaced by a new, reconfigured entity called Solas — Seirbhísí Oideachais Leanunaigh Agus Scileanna if you must know. This development is far too important to the country, and the tens of thousands of people who need new skills to get new work, to be just a cynical rebranding exercise. Solas is intended to bring a more integrated approach to the provision of further education and training.

Introducing the new organisation yesterday, Mr Quinn conceded that there had been far too much duplication in the provision of further education. Functions previously carried out by Fás will be taken over by the Department of Social Protection and Department of Education.

There will be considerably enhanced roles for local vocational education committees and the Department of Social Protection will take responsibility for programmes such as the community employment schemes, while further education and training areas will go to the Department of Education and Skills.

This is a considerable shift as is the element of compunction involved. Very few people will disagree with Mr Quinn’s assertion that those enjoying social welfare benefits will continue to do so only as long as they make themselves available for courses that might lead to employment.

Like everything this fledgling Government promises, only time will tell if it is delivered but this project is vital to the rebuilding of the country and it must be hoped that all involved realise that and act accordingly.

Let us all wish them every success.